SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: LAPTOP COMPUTERS

SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: LAPTOP COMPUTERS

One of the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights is the Right Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures. It is provided in Article III, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution:

THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO BE SECURE IN THEIR PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS, AND EFFECTS AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES OF WHATEVER NATURE AND FOR ANY PURPOSE SHALL BE INVIOLABLE, AND NO SEARCH WARRANT OR WARRANT OF ARREST SHALL ISSUE EXCEPT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE TO BE DETERMINED PERSONALLY BY THE JUDGE AFTER EXAMINATION UNDER OATH OR AFFIRMATION OF THE COMPLAINANT AND THE WITNESSES HE MAY PRODUCE, AND PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED AND THE PERSONS OR THINGS TO BE SEIZED.

The main purpose of this provision is to protect the privacy and sanctity of the person and of his house and other possessions against arbitrary intrusions by the State officers. "Not all searches and seizures are prohibited. Those which are reasonable are not forbidden. A reasonable search is not to be determined by any fixed formula but is to be resolved according to the facts of each case." (Valmonte v. General de Villa, GR No. 83988, September 29, 1989) To be "reasonable" a search or seizure must be conducted either (i) pursuant to a valid search warrant issued by a judge or (ii) pursuant to an exception to the search warrant requirement, such as consent.

Nowadays, most of the people are into computers. It can be said that this generation is a computer age/ cyber age. As a result, some people uses computers to perpetrate a crimes like possession of child pornography, solicitation of prostitution, cyber sex, identity theft and fraud. According to research, there are hundred ways that computers record everything you do on the Internet. While it is possible to clear some records of your activities by deleting files or hiding passwords, it is never possible to completely clear records of all computer activity. When the police seize your computer, they have the technical ability to see how you've used it - what emails you have sent, what websites you have visited and what files you have downloaded. The Bill of Rights protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. It restricts the police from doing searches or from taking computers unless they have probable cause to believe that they can find evidence that you committed a crime, and a judge issues a warrant. However, in some situations, the circumstances justify a warrantless search like (i) Warrantless search incidental to a lawful arrest; (ii) Seizure of evidence in plain view; (iii) Search of moving vehicle; (iv) Consented warrantless search; (v) Customs search; (vi) Stop and Frisk; and (vii) Exigent and Emergency Circumstances. 

In the case of US v. Camp, the judge found the plain view doctrine - not the seach incident exception - justified the seizure of the laptop, he also found it necessary to point out that what the agent did came within the parameters of the doctrine. THE PLAIN VIEW DOCTRINE ONLY ALLOWS OFFICERS TO SEIZE CONTRABAND OR EVIDENCE OF A CRIME; IT DOES NOT JUSTIFY SEARCHING FOR CONTRABAND OR EVIDENCE OF A CRIME. The judge, therefore, also noted that [n]either Agent Spears nor Detective Boyce searched the laptop computer once it had been seized. Rather, Agent Spears filed an application for a search warrant to search the contents of the laptop computer on June 27, 2011, and only upon receipt of a validly executed search warrant did he conduct a search of the contents of the laptop computer. Agent Spears detailed his history and experience as an FBI agent, the basis of his belief that evidence of [Camp’s] alleged crime would be contained on the laptop computer, and [Camp’s] specific activities that would have caused evidence of [Camp’s] alleged crimes to be contained on the laptop computer. Having considered the application for a search warrant in full, the Court finds that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed.


Therefore, in the absence of the requirements provided by law as discussed above the police officers cannot seized a laptop computer and make a random search thereon for it violates the Constitutional Right of a person; the right to privacy. So if the police ask to come into your home to "look around," know your rights. You have the right to say no. Ask to see the warrant that gives them the right to computer search and seizure. If they don't have a warrant and they don't have your permission, chances are they cannot conduct the search.